Details of the multi-year deal have not been disclosed, but it marks the first initiative by John Dempsey, who was appointed as Estée Lauder global brand president in October 2004, and also the first alliance announced by the designer since forming his own company, 'Tom Ford'.
The first fruit of the collaboration, a 'Tom Ford for Estée Lauder', is expected to arrive on Estée Lauder counters for the holiday 2005 season and will have limited distribution. It will be followed up with a wider range in spring 2006.
The company said this strategy allows it to "incorporate Mr Ford's design point of view into the brand quickly, and capitalize on the style and luxury trends that drive consumer purchases during the holiday season".
Longer-term plans involve setting up a stand-alone Tom Ford beauty brand, slated to take a bow towards the end of next year, for the creation of a prestige fragrance.
"This has been a long time plan of mine," said Ford, who has designed influential collections for Yves Saint Laurent and Gucci and was creative director of the latter for ten years.
The Estée Lauder Companies has teamed up with designers in the past, such as Tommy Hilfiger, Donna Karan, Sean John, but these are under separate divisions of the Estée Lauder Companies.
The Tom Form deal is the first time the Estée Lauder brand itself has signed a designer.