User blog comment:Mckrongs/Monster Hunter 4 for the Nintendo 3DS/@comment-11560977-20131031121830/@comment-765166-20131031180725

Armor Skills, Defenses and Slots. Those were the usual differences.

The color scheme for the past Kirin Armor hinted on what Kirin Subspecies would look like too.

As for the Daora question, I heard that Event Kushala Daora, Rusted Kushala Daora, unlocks the Armor Set for it. I don't have a confirmation for this yet though.