If there's anyone who can relate to the theme of the movie "27 Dresses" that opens Friday, it's Rebecca Whitlinger, Pittsburgh's resident expert on bridesmaid dresses.

The executive director of a cancer support center, she has made a side career with her book "Always a Bridesmaid: 89 Ways to Recycle That Bridesmaid Dress."

She has approached the dilemma facing all bridesmaids -- "Of course you can wear the dress more than once" -- by wearing one of hers with attitude. The seven-time bridesmaid has worn a 20-year-old gold-sequined bridesmaid gown from a 1988 candlelight wedding everywhere -- from Las Vegas, to PNC Park, to Heinz Hall, to the "Today Show" with Matt Lauer.

If she couldn't wear the dress anywhere, she figured, she would wear it everywhere and gold is her favorite color.

Other fashionistas who see the movie "27 Dresses" will chuckle at a montage that serves up a breathtaking history of the wacky get-ups worn by perpetual runners-up in the game of romance.

A "Gone With the Wind"-themed bridal party includes unwieldy hoop skirts and parasols. There's an outdoor wedding in Los Angeles, an underwater ceremony and some dusty nuptials on horseback. But you don't need to see the film to chortle at some of the scariest wedding fashions ever worn in this universe. Just visit uglydress.com.

Through the decades, bridesmaids' attire has been freighted with some awful frills -- bustles, crinolines, gigantic butt bows, fake fruit, dye-to-match shoes, floppy hats, crocheted gloves and the ever popular earrings and necklaces that matched the dress.

Deb Waterkotte, a local event planner who began organizing weddings in the 1980s, has seen all of these looks come and go.

Back in the 1960s, young couples wed in parks or at city hall, without need for tulle or organza. But by the mid-1980s, when Waterkotte started her company, The Planner, weddings were starting to boom.

By then, brides thought, "How many friends do I really have? They're all going to walk down the aisle in the same ugly dress," she said.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, iridescent taffeta skirts with handkerchief hemlines in jewel tones such as emerald, sapphire and ruby were paired with contrasting velvet tops. Then, peach and apricot-colored satin gowns with puffed sleeves and giant butt bows took the stage in the early 1990s, as did black-and-white weddings featuring silk and velvet.

"Then came the color of all colors and that was teal. That was probably the mid-1990s," Ms. Waterkotte said.

The strapless dress with a flowing mermaid line that's now in vogue arrived around 1997.

By the year 2000, earth tones such as taupe, beige, clay, mink, grassy green, coral and mushroom made up the bridesmaid palette. "I never wanted to have a bridesmaid gown that was mushroom colored," she said.

"Bridal gowns are fuller now. The bridesmaids' gowns usually echo or complement what the bride is wearing."

The hot color from 2006 through 2007 was chocolate brown, Ms. Waterkotte said, adding that kiwi shades of green and claret shades of red are now fashionable.

Among local women who vividly recall dresses they disliked is Jennifer Johnson, who lives in Crafton and has been a bridesmaid six times.

"The worst dress I wore was in my sister Cindy's wedding. It was fluffy and fuchsia and we had to wear big flowers in our hair," said Ms. Johnson, a patient-business representative at Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic.

Ms. Johnson became engaged on Christmas Day and is planning a fall 2009 wedding. She envisions her bridesmaids in chocolate brown but will vary the styles of dress to accommodate the shapes and ages of her attendants.

Maria Matchett, a project manager for a software company, lives in Cranberry and has been a bridesmaid 12 times, starting in 1988 at her brother's wedding. Her dress was teal and she wore a banana clip in her hair.

Since then, she's worn a rainbow of shades: periwinkle, black, black and white, yellow, mauve, wine, red, two navies and two hunter greens.

"These days have held many memories," she said.

Mrs. Matchett, who was attended by seven bridesmaids at her wedding in 2001, still has all of her bridesmaids' gowns.

"I have been able to use some of my dresses more than once and I swear I'll wear all of them at some point, which is why I still have them all! More than anything, I feel incredibly blessed to have been asked to stand beside family and friends on the most important day of their life," she said.

As for Ms. Whitlinger, she will serve as a bridesmaid for the eighth time in December. But she's also engaged to marry stockbroker Philip Kontul before the end of this year.

Mr. Kontul likes his fiancee's playful nature. "She's done a lot with very little," he said. "She looks good in anything."

Ms. Whitlinger, who is 40-something, took one of her bridesmaid gowns made of yellow cotton brocade, cut it up and used it to cover her piano bench. She plucked roses from another bridesmaid dress and attached them to a straw hat.

The 20-year-old gold dress -- which came in two styles, off the shoulder and traditional short sleeves -- may have been a lemon but Ms. Whitlinger squeezed plenty of juice from it. On four occasions, she staged "Bridesmaids Revisited and Ushers Unlimited," a benefit for the Burger King Cancer Caring Center, where she serves as executive director. The first party, held in 1988, drew 200 guests and the event, staged again in 1999, 2000 and 2001, raised money for the nonprofit. Prizes were awarded for the biggest butt bow and the ugliest gown.

As for her 20-year-old bridesmaid gown: "I've worn it so much to work, people thought it was a uniform."