About Guillotine

Guillotine’s design philosophy is intuitive and inspired by clothing’s intimate relationship with the female body. We use tailoring to create modern, three-dimensional lines and carefully chosen fabrics to influence our garments’ shape and form, with prints and textures enhancing the particular intention and direction of each seasonal collection.

Guillotine is an ethics driven and sustainable brand based in and inspired by Johannesburg. We produce curated, ready to wear collections in limited editions using exceptional craftsmanship, finishes and fabrications. We aim for sustainable business practices and value local artisans by working and collaborating with small teams, partners and skilled individuals.

Founder and Creative Director, Lisa Jaffe, launched Guillotine in 2007 and opened her flagship store in 2011. Since 2004, she has shown collections at South African Fashion Week with collaborative, conceptual shows that fuse art and design: short films emphasizing dressing as a performance and thereby exploring perceptions of the feminine; the fusion of garments and interiors; inflatable, blow-up garments; and digital fashion installations. At the Johannesburg Art Fair, Guillotine showcased a limited-edition, hand-printed collection with a live monotype performance and installation.

In these art/design collaborations, she has worked with photographers, musicians, printmakers, artists and digital artists, crafters, actors, directors and architects.
Guillotine has also shown collections at the Design Indaba, Nike design show, and the David Krut and Goodman Gallery, as well as been featured in numerous magazines, newspapers, fashion blogs and online articles.
Recently, Guillotine and L’MAD launched a new luxury label which collaborates with South African artists to create artworks that are first transposed into textile prints and then into garments.

As a consequence, these diverse collaborations bring layers of meaning to each collection, and their conceptual complexities transform beautiful garments into unique modes of self-expression.