I wore short shorts (hot pants, daisy dukes) 35+ years ago as a teen. Paired it with a midriff peasant blouse. Or a midriff halter top. Or perhaps a tube top. Lots of skin showing in the 70's.
Not much has changed in 40 years with teens.
.Girls that age can be very stubborn and contrary. The girl you saw might have been wearing that suit to spite her mom who hates it. A friend (or a boy) might have commented that the top looked bad (or too sexy), and that is why she was crossing her arms in front of her. Or, her mom was saying, "I told you it was too small! I told you to put a Tshirt on over it!" and the girl was ignoring her.
Unless you were said girl or her mom, you don't know how she felt or what the situation was.
. She was crossing her arms, and tugging at the bottom all day, and has ever since. She has ALWAYS done that in a suit, even with a T shirt over it.
Same here-we made halter tops and cut off jean shorts so the bottom of the pocket "just" showed. Look back at your own pictures from the 70's moms
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Sorry to read that. But think that's the pedophiles issue I am not going to make my kids were full body suits to save them from the creeps. My kids are appropriately dressed. As the mom of a teenage daughter though I can tell you that I just told her one bathing suit is getting thrown out- bottoms too small and I will buy her a new one. I saw a cute tankini with little shorts on one of her friends that was cute and her mom said she bought it at Kohl's. I will also add that she looked extremely uncomfortable and self conscious but that's the child, not the suit. There are kids that are uncomfortable in their own skin. 
DD started wearing a bikini this year. She wears running shorts with it when she is at a water park or running around outside the pool, because she doesn't like to have to tug at the bottoms. She is 11 (12 next month). She is too long waisted for one peice suits and couldn't find a tankini she liked so we found a cute bilkini at Justice. Normally she won't shop there, but their bathing suits are great. Not too skimpy, but not too babyish either. Very age appropriate.
I'm wondering if some of the girls covering their chest were doing it because things were showing through if you know what I mean. Not all suits come with the cup liner.
DD started wearing a bikini this year. She wears running shorts with it when she is at a water park or running around outside the pool, because she doesn't like to have to tug at the bottoms. She is 11 (12 next month). She is too long waisted for one peice suits and couldn't find a tankini she liked so we found a cute bilkini at Justice. Normally she won't shop there, but their bathing suits are great. Not too skimpy, but not too babyish either. Very age appropriate.
I'm wondering if some of the girls covering their chest were doing it because things were showing through if you know what I mean. Not all suits come with the cup liner.
It's really cute.
We got DD10 suit at Justice, too. I was very surprised at how cute and age appropriate the suits were...since most of their other clothes aren't!
http://www.shopjustice.com/girls-clothing/tankinis/splotchy-peace-tankini-swimsuit/8631351
This is the suit DD has.
I remember making halter tops out of bandanas. Folded the bandanas in half to make a triangle. Then we used those Home Ec classes to sew one corner down and put a leather string through it for the neck. Then we tied two corners around our back. Pair it with the hip huggers that were in style and we were good to go.
This was in NJ in case anyone wants to know geographic cultural location.
Oh, the days.....
(Oh, and for the record, my daughter does not wear anything showing her belly. Although I am ok with short shorts, as long as the butt cheeks aren't hanging out. And it has nothing to do with reliving my own youth, that is a ridiculous assumption
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Lol - we wore bandana tops here in the 80's, minus the string, so much shorter and tighter! My dd's wear the short shorts - they are VERY comfortable in their skin, but their bellies don't show. And wouldn't be caught dead in Lands End (I wouldn't have been, either, although my mom was a Lands End poster child).
DD started wearing a bikini this year. She wears running shorts with it when she is at a water park or running around outside the pool, because she doesn't like to have to tug at the bottoms. She is 11 (12 next month). She is too long waisted for one peice suits and couldn't find a tankini she liked so we found a cute bilkini at Justice. Normally she won't shop there, but their bathing suits are great. Not too skimpy, but not too babyish either. Very age appropriate.
I'm wondering if some of the girls covering their chest were doing it because things were showing through if you know what I mean. Not all suits come with the cup liner.
I know that some people are comfortable with their weight, and I'm all for embracing your body, but when you KNOW that you will have 'the rolls' hanging off the sides of the bikini bottom or 'the girls' almost completely in people's faces, I say look for another suit. I think modesty is a value that all girls could learn a lesson in. I personally am not comfortable with my body, so I think I will be buying a swim-shirt with boy's swimming trunks to wear over my suit this year. I also think that the bikini is something that very young girls shouldn't have-at least the new padded-cup ones! 
