Being fired has never been more celebrated than it was Tuesday evening. Laura Brown and Kristina O’Neill, former editor in chiefs of InStyle and WSJ Magazine respectively, toasted the publication of their new book “All the Cool Girls Get Fired” with a party at Rockefeller Center the day of the book’s publication. 

In addition to just about every magazine editor and fashion publicist in New York, guests included Julianne Moore, Barbara Bush, Jeff Koons, Jenna Lyons, Gucci Westman, Deborra-Lee Furness, Candace Bushnell and Andrew Ross Sorkin.

The idea for the book came from O’Neill, after Brown posted a photo of the two of them following the announcement of O’Neill’s firing in April 2023. (Brown had been let go from InStyle the previous year.) Her post, since deleted, was captioned with what is now their book title, and O’Neill called her with the idea.

“I think there was a squeal of a decibel not often heard, perhaps only by dogs,” was how Brown described the feeling of holding the physical book in her hands for the first time. 

“I was fired three and a half years ago, Kristina two and a half years ago, and to come from that and own it and have this book be real and have women reach out to us saying it means so much to them and it’s going to help them, and then to have the book be physically real, it’s absolutely wild,” she added. “We’re a bit dazed, but we’re really proud.”

The two later addressed the room, with O’Neill adding more praise for both the women they invited in the book (including Oprah and Carol Burnett) and the many women who reached out identifying with them.

“To the incredible women who emailed us with your stories, you are the heart and soul of this book. We hope we have done you justice or at least made you feel cool,” O’Neill said. 

And what fun would a party celebrating getting “s–t canned,” as Brown called it, be without a little jab at their former bosses?

“To Dotdash Meredith — sorry, People Inc,” Brown started, referencing InStyle’s parent company and its new name, “and to the Wall Street Journal’s Emma Tucker,” O’Neill added, “the door didn’t just hit us on the way out — it opened even wider.”