Zoe Saldaña is one of the most successful blockbuster stars of our times, but tonight she caps what is perhaps the biggest year of her career. At the 2025 97th Academy Awards, Saldaña took home, for the first time in her career, an Oscar for her supporting role in Emilia Pérez. It comes hot on the heels of a sweep that she’s had all award season, with wins at the Golden Globes, the Critics’ Choice Awards, the BAFTAs and the SAG Awards.
It’s sure to be an emotional and celebratory moment for the actress, who’s making both personal and institutional history. In addition to the award being her first personal Oscar win, Saldaña is also now the first American actress of Dominican descent to win an Academy Award.
On the red carpet, Zoe Saldaña stood out in a ruby red Saint Laurent bubble dress—a point of difference among a trend of neutral colours and palettes. But, as is often the case with the actress’s red carpet appearances, her jewels are the real star of the show.
Saldaña, who is a friend of the maison Cartier, is no stranger to wearing incredible creations by the Parisian jeweller to glitzy events like the Oscars. She once wore a literal gold chainmail cape top at an Oscars after-party, and just earlier this year debuted a bee-themed set of jewels from Cartier’s Nature Sauvage high jewellery collection to take home her first Golden Globe.
Well, no surprise then that Saldaña saved what might be the best for the Oscars. At the Academy Awards, she was indeed dressed by Cartier, debuting a new masterpiece from the upcoming third and final chapter of the Nature Sauvage collection. Behold the Panthères Versatiles, a transformable piece of jewellery in which the maison’s emblematic animal explores a host of wearable forms.
The body of the panther—or panthers, rather, as the full design features a pair of heads—is sublimated with a sinuous, vine-like form that is fully articulated so the jewel can be worn on the neck, shoulder or wrist.
Here’s how the transformations work. The Panthères Versatiles features a second strand with a twin panther head, which can be detached to be worn on its own as a bracelet. This leaves the main necklace worn high and close to the neck, as Saldaña did at the Oscars—a configuration that showcases the 10.10-carat sugarloaf Zambian emerald centre gemstone.
This strand can also be joined to the main body of the necklace and worn in a way that’s beautiful both front and back. Here’s where the Panthères Versatiles name of the design starts to make sense: quite simply French for “versatile panthers” that separate and reunite in novel, exciting forms. When the pair of cats are joined, the necklace is turned into a shoulder jewel, with the panther heads resting on the shoulders and the abstracted body and centre emerald draped down the back.
It’s a feat of craftsmanship and savoir-faire, even for the already mind-blowing levels of high jewellery. In addition to the classic gem-set configuration of Cartier panthers—onyx and diamond spots, and emerald eyes—the Panthères Versatiles called for almost extreme modularity and articulation. The unique piece, in fact, took 4,827 hours to create—or roughly 34 months of artisanal work.
To personally select the pieces for this awards season, Saldaña made a visit with Petra Flannery, her stylist, to Cartier’s home of high jewellery in Paris at 13 Paix. Now, as the season winds to a close, Saldaña can perhaps relish having imbued multiple pieces of the maison’s high jewellery with such spectacular moments of success.
“I am honoured to be the first person to wear this transformable piece of high jewellery. Its bold creativity and magnetic energy feel like a perfect fit for the Oscars night,” said Saldaña of her Oscars jewel. The transformation, she added, “brings a playful and surprising element, adding to the joy of wearing it.” Transformation—an apt delight for the magical moment.
