Lisa Jaffe launched Guillotine in 2007 and opened her flagship store in 2011.

Guillotine’s design philosophy is  inspired by fashion’s clothing’s intimate relationship with the  body. They 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 of each collection.

Their Winter 2009 look featured in our 21 YEARS exhibition, incorporates a hand-embroidered scarf made from recycled thrift store coats as well as a fitted racer jacket that is made from an ‘Ace and Poone’ Basuto Blanket.

Since 2004, she has shown collections at South African Fashion Week with collaborative, conceptual shows that fuse art and design; short films emphasising 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. Jaffe’s label has also shown collections at the Design Indaba, Nike design show, and the David Krut and Goodman galleries, as well as been featured in numerous magazines, newspapers, fashion blogs and online articles.

Recently, Guillotine and L’MAD launched a new luxury label, G x L, which collaborates with South African artists to create artworks that are first transposed into textile prints and then into garments.

Guillotine is featured in Zeitz MOCAA’s exhibition, 21 YEARS: Making Histories with South African Fashion Week (2018 – 2019).