Get ready with Mirella for the 2025 Emma Gaala

Finnish artist Mirella may have only released her debut single in 2023, but her star is shining brighter than ever. Case in point? The six nominations – including Artist of the Year, Album of the Year and Song of the Year – the 19-year-old scooped up at this year’s Emma Gaala, aka the Finnish Grammys.

“It was a huge surprise – I never thought that I’d get that many nominations,” Mirella beams. “When I heard about it, I was like, ‘No way – that’s unbelievable and such an honour.’”

A thrilling buzz slices through the backstage area of Espoo’s Metro Arena, where the 2025 Emma Gaala commences in mere hours. The lofty halls are also where Mirella is getting ready for the evening, noting that the dressing-and-glamming-up part is among the things she looks forward to the most – in addition to performing her blockbuster pop song, ‘Timanttei’ (‘Diamonds’).

“I just have such an amazing outfit,” she muses. “And I also can’t wait for that feeling right after stepping off the stage – when the performance is over, and I can enjoy the night in a completely different way. I get pretty nervous, so I’ll probably spend the beginning of the evening feeling totally frozen, just trying to relax – but that post-performance feeling is truly liberating.”

Related: Helsinki-based artist Exmantera on remixing Björk for the Acne Studios AW25 show

For that amazing outfit in question – a brown bralette-and-ruffled-maxi-skirt combo adorned with shimmying fringes and crystal-strewn floral embellishments (paired with a sheer cape she wore on the red carpet) – Mirella didn’t rely on a stylist. Instead, she hit up Heini Lambert and Malin Elmvik – the seamstress and costume designer of Tanssii Tähtien Kanssa, respectively, the Finnish iteration of Dancing with the Stars – and co-designed the look with them. “From the beginning, I had this really strong vision – I wanted this Esmeralda-meets-dancer outfit,” she explains. “Being one-quarter Romani, Esmeralda has always been a big inspiration for me – especially style-wise – so I wanted to bring a touch of my roots into the ensemble.”

Like a lot of aesthetic inspiration does, Mirella’s cues for the Emma Gaala look sprouted from Pinterest (“I’m a pretty big Pinterest enthusiast – whenever I want to create a visual world around a song or a music video, for instance, I do a bunch of mood boards”). This particular mood board was populated by low-slung skirts, dancer-esque ensembles and stacks of golden jewellery – elements that Mirella took to Lambert and Elmvik, who brought her vision to life.

Finished off with layers of chunky gilded necklaces, bangles, and rings, along with a sleek slicked-back ponytail and a sun-kissed glow, the result was a look undoubtedly fit for a Disney heroine – and, as it turned out, six Emma awards.

See all of Mirella’s behind-the-scenes moments as she preps for the 2025 Emma Gaala below: