The high-end fashion industry established a beachhead in Ellenville this past weekend in a stark white room at the back of an ordinary building on downtown Canal Street. That's where Colorworks has opened for business and was throwing a party to celebrate. It was also a hint of the possible future for the area.

In the room, lined with boxes bearing enigmatic and mysterious labels like "Felted and disassembled sweaters", partygoers drank wine, talked with a Manhattan-style energy and stepped carefully around the large, black dog, recovering from tummy surgery, and wearing a "Fab Faux" t-shirt.

Who is Colorworks, you ask? They are Russ and Monica Dansky, residents of Cragsmoor for the past three years. What is Colorworks? In Monica Dansky's own words — "High-end garment dyers. We work for fashion designers who need garments dyed to their own specifications."

What this means in practice is that designers meet with Monica and her footlocker stuffed with swatches of colored cloth. They pour, or paw, through them until they find things that fit their visions or inspire new ones. Then Monica works with her palette of dyes to start bringing those visions to life. Eventually the ghostly white dresses and tops that hang in rows at the back of the room are dyed and sent off to the designer, and once everyone's happy about the exact shades of green, grey, taupe or tangerine, the process moves on to the catwalks and eventually the malls.

That Colorworks is here, and in business, is both a sign of the times, and the result of efforts by both village manager Elliott Auerbach, Mayor Jeff Kaplan and the entire village board to redefine local zoning ordinances governing commercial usage of properties in the town. Russ Dansky says, "We had a friendly reception from the town and great help in getting this done. I think this is the first legal artist's loft in Ellenville."

Is Ellenville about to become the Soho of the Hudson Valley?

Anything's possible, but Dansky points out that Ellenville is a "diamond in the rough" with "huge potential" for small firms like his. "This area is so beautiful, and the town has a number of buildings that are perfect for this kind of operation. I have to think it's going to happen."

Down the road, Dansky hopes to give back to the town too. "Once we're established and everything, I hope to work with the local school to set up workshops for fashion design. Who knows? Maybe we can kick off a fashion industry right here in Ellenville."

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