'Project Runway' Season 1 Standout Kara Saun on Making History on the Series — and Saying Goodbye 20 Years Later (Exclusive)

Kara Saun, who was eliminated in the Aug. 10 episode of Project Runway All Stars, spoke with PEOPLE about her 20-year career and her legacy on the show

WARNING: Project Runway All Stars spoilers ahead.

Project Runway’s Kara Saun knows who she is, win or lose.

The season 1 standout may have been eliminated from season 20 of the show on Thursday night, but her legacy as the first Black person on the series carries on.

Saun spoke with PEOPLE about how she decided to return to the Bravo show 20 years after her first run, not to prove herself or her skill but for fun.

“To me, coming back was a celebration,” she tells PEOPLE. “It was a celebration of life, a celebration of the legacy of Project Runway, and I really wanted people to feel and see it in that way, as a celebration for 20 years of inspiring millions of people to get into fashion.”

As a seasoned costume designer, Saun’s work has spanned two decades in which she’s worked on projects from NBC’s The Sing-Off to Disney’s successful franchise The Descendants.

Not only can her work be seen in kids’ Halloween costumes today as they dress up as the characters from the films, but she has also dressed an impressive list of celebrities: Zendaya, Heidi Klum, Zoe Saldaña, Snoop Dogg, Kevin Hart, Julianne Hough, Jamie Foxx, Eve, TLC, Mary J. Blige, Queen Latifah, Lauryn Hill, Busta Rhymes and Eddie Murphy.

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On the show, other contestants praised Saun for paving the way for designers of color to pursue their fashion dreams. For the humble designer, however, returning to the show was just as much an opportunity for her to work with her talented peers and honor her mother, Barbara Anne Saunders.

PEOPLE sat down with Saun to learn more about her career, what she took away from the show and what’s next for the designer.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

PEOPLE: Congratulations on your run in the show! How are you feeling watching it back?

Kara Saun: Watching it is amazing, because coming from season 1, the OG, it has changed so much. I don't think people really understand the legacy of Project Runway. When I first started on the show, it had never been done before, right? It was a different time. We didn't have social media, so really what we had as a designer trying to be seen, you had to get into a magazine or you had to be on TV.

And so, to go from there to where we are now, and just honestly so many amazing things have happened in between. It was literally the gift that kept on giving.

Why did you want to come back to the show?

My mom and I believe in signs. So out of the blue, this woman emailed me and she goes, ‘I bought three of your pieces from your finale, Project Runway season one, and I was going to donate it for charity,’ and she goes, ‘Your name just popped in my head. I just thought of you, and I wanted to know if you just want me to send them back to you. I want to give them back to you.’

Literally an hour later, Project Runway emails me to be back on the show. I just wanted to pick up my mom's spirits one day, so I told my mom, "I would only go back for you." And she shook her head yes. And so, just a few days later on Juneteenth, my mom transcended. She passed. And then, I was going to the show, because I made that promise, and there was nothing that was going to keep me from being on that show.

On the show, we see so many designers, like Korto, look up to you as the first Black designer in the competition. What was it like hearing that from them and others you’ve inspired? 

People saw me on the show, and back then, there wasn't a lot of representation in the field. They see me on the show and representing in a way that everybody's just so proud and so happy and Korto literally was like, ‘I was breastfeeding my son and I was watching you every week.’ And she was like, ‘I'm going to be on that show.’

I have to tell you, after coming back and hearing all this, it was very touching to me. It was just an honor to hear that because that's what I want to do. To have that legacy was amazing.

Have you stayed close to your costars?

I see Laurence, I see Bishme, I see Korto. I'm here with Kayne in Atlanta. Korto was just here, Prajjé was just here, Viktor was just here because we have a collection we're doing together.

We have a little collab we're all doing together for prom season. I have an initiative called the Fashion FairyGodmother where I work with kids in foster care. I was talking to Kayne about it one day and he just sent me 33 gowns for my prom kids [in foster care]. So Kayne and I are doing a prom Fashion FairyGodmother collection where the proceeds get to go to kids in foster care.

Related: Christian Siriano Reveals All-Stars 'Project Runway' Season: It 'Will Be Interesting Cause I'm the Boss'

Looking back, is there anything you wish you would've done differently or is there anything you learned from Christian Siriano and the judges that you think you'll be applying to your work going forward?

I just think fashion is so subjective. I'm just going to be really honest with you, at this stage of my life, I'm set.

If you have aunties or something, you don't change your aunties. You know what you do? You change and work around them. I know what I like. I know who I am.

Tell me about your journey in costume design these last 20 years. I know you worked on The Descendants, which children now wear as Halloween costumes! 

Costume design is fashion, and I'll tell you why, because costume designers are the trendsetters sometimes. You see the Barbie movie now, next season on the runway, guess what you're going to see?

Pink.

Exactly. When I did Descendants, I saw designers in Europe with literal models that look like [the Descendants characters] Jay and Carlos, and their whole outfits on.

We create fashion, it's not just costume. And so, I started out in fashion design, and I ended up getting into the union and costume designing. 

When I read the [Descendants] script, all the characters had on black leather. And I was like, ‘Black leather? Absolutely not. No, everything is going to be color.’ People always say, ‘Oh my god, you have Uma's hair.’ No, Uma has my hair. Because when I found out that China Anne McClain was going to be Uma, I knew that was my opportunity for little girls, brown-skinned girls to actually see a doll with braids, and see a doll with aqua braids.

To see the kids and to see the cosplayers every Halloween just meant so much to me. We were the number one costume, the number one doll and to help build that world … I have always wanted to do something that was iconic, something that would live forever. And this will live forever.

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What do you think is next for you?

Right now, my whole goal is what legacy I'm going to leave. I've built my business. I've had huge success in costume design and I loved it. It's amazing. But right now, my Fashion FairyGodmother means so much to me. I think I'm the happiest when I'm with these kids. It just brings me so much joy to see them and to see their face light up and to make all these fairytales come true. So Kayne and I, right now, and you'll be able to purchase it, we're doing this gorgeous prom line called The Fashion FairyGodmother, and a portion of the proceeds are going to all the nonprofits that we sponsor, including Kids in the Spotlight.

I'm still costume designing, but oh man, I'm going to use everything I have from this Project Runway to really build my nonprofit and build The Fashion FairyGodmother.

That’s incredible. What do you hope people take away from your work and time on the show?

I hope people really take away, honestly, that when faced with tragedy, you just have to move, create art, be with people who love you and people who inspire you and you inspire them. And I hope people see this, and say, ‘You know what? She fought through everything.’ Even if you don't see it, and you see my smiling and happy all the time, that's just the way my mom, Barbara Anna Saunders, was. She was joy, the strongest woman I know, and I really hope people see that.

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