LAS VEGAS - It was a grand concert entrance if ever there was one - Cher at the Colosseum in Caesars Palace, descending from the ceiling like the empress of the sun. Her golden chariot might as well have been a time capsule, because when she stepped out in a blindingly sparkly gold lamé cape and an Egyptian headdress with an asp, she could have been 22 again. Or even 42. But Cher, who just turned 62, can still rock a Bob Mackie get-up like nobody else.

Her new show is an eyeful of deliciously glittery costumes that hark back to the wonderfully tacky, pre-Celine Vegas of Liberace and feather-flocked revues. Through 17 costume changes, she shares and bares - bellybutton, hips and butt cheeks.

They don't make style icons like Cher anymore. From the beginning of her career, when her stick-straight hair and bell-bottoms amounted to fringe fashion, she understood that cultivating a look was as important as cultivating a sound. Love her or hate her, she always keeps us guessing.

''She wears everything with such ease,'' says Mackie, her partner in sartorial success.

When Cher came to Mackie earlier this spring, she had several characters in mind for the production, which sent him sketching. He had just four weeks. The costumes were engineered more than designed, Mackie says. ''It was like building a battleship with all the pieces and layers,'' he says. ''It was full, long days and lots of nervousness.''

Cher will spend the next three years performing at Caesars Palace, alternating with Bette Midler and Elton John, who are snappy dressers themselves.