I knew as soon as I watched the first episode of RuroKen that I wanted to cosplay Kaoru. She's such an interesting mix of traits and I absolutely love her.

I wanted a costume that would be pretty and flowy and feminine, and Kaoru's wardrobe is filled with many beautiful kimono, so she was perfect! I chose this from one of my favorite pictures of Kaoru and Kenshin together, and also because I had YARDS of green fabric lying around.
Reference picture here: http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a91/Solaria735/kenkao11.jpg

This costume debuted as part of a group at AX 2006 with my dear friends Jaina Solo (Kenshin), G-Mal (Sanosuke), Tsuki no Neko (Megumi), Arkadia (Kamatari), and ScruffyRebel (Soujiro).

CONSTRUCTION NOTES: The kimono is fully lined and there is a separate juban underneath. All the flowers are painted on and outlined with a fabric pen. Since the reference image only shows Kaoru from the waist up, I tried to match the design on her shoulder as closely as possible and then improvised for the sleeves and the bottom.
The obi introduced me to the wonders of Heat n Bond- that thing could go through a tornado and be fluffed back up in two seconds.

Costume avatar photo by Jason of i360.