Hot yoga is a very general term for yoga that makes you sweat. Well that is not entire true but for practical purposes that is how it works.
Hot yoga is actually done in a heated room and it is up to the teacher to decide what hot is. It can range anywhere from 80F to 105F or so. However, there are many fast paced power and flow yoga classes where you may sweat just as much as in a hot yoga class. So for practical purposes related to clothes lets just go with the concept that you will be sweating and need clothes that account for that.
There are two approaches to handling all that excess moisture in class as you move from pose to pose. One is to go with as little clothes as possible (usually preferred in an actual hot class) and allow the excess to be absorbed by your yoga mat towel or the like.
Method two is to wear clothes that are highly breathable that will absorb all the perspiration as you go. Your choice between the two will likely come down to modesty and comfort.
In the realm of less is more there are many companies that carry hot yoga clothes like shorts, pants and tops. The tops are close to bikinis style. There are tube tops and bikini style tops that look very similar to sports bras and bikini tops. They are of course designed to be more supportive overall, cause you don’t want to be worried about anything coming out of place in downward dog.
The shorts are very short and fitted closely to the body. Some are similar to runners shorts coming up high on the outside of the thigh to not limit any movement in lunging etc. Some look like little boys shorts and others are simply straight legged and fitted to the thigh. An alternative to shorts that is less popular is tights that run either the whole leg, three quarters to just to the knee.
The thing to recognize about most of these outfits is that they are made for the slim and trim only. Even an ounce of body fat looks a little out of place when adorned with many of these pieces. For some this is fine, but for others it fells a little uncomfortable to show off all of our assets like that.
Alternatives to skimpy hot yoga clothing is well…regular yoga clothes. That is right almost all yoga clothes are designed to be breathable and will wick sweat away from the body. The main thing you want to avoid is t-shirt made from cotton and sweat pants. These are impractical and will get in the way. But if you find some nice covering yoga clothes you will find that they work quite well in your yoga class and you can relax that your muffin top isn’t jumping to the top of the mat before you do. 