Nowhere is the stereotype about men’s fragrances better summed up than in the 2004 film Anchorman, in which narcissistic newsman Brian Fantana douses himself with a foul-smelling cologne called Sex Panther and then boasts, “It’s illegal in nine countries, and it’s made with bits of real panther.”

Sex Panther may be fictional, but from Brut and Aramis in the ’60s to Drakkar Noir and Stetson in the ’80s, men’s fragrances have long shared an unmistakable scent profile: musky, heavy, and spicy—a blend better suited to the bedroom than the boardroom. It’s little wonder that many a businessman cringes when he hears the word cologne, as visions of gelled hair, square-toed shoes, and bad suits run through his head.

But Michael Macko, men’s fashion director for Saks Fifth Avenue, says that he has seen men’s attitudes toward personal appearance shift in the past several years and that the same herd mentality that discouraged fragrance in the workplace is now making it a fundamental part of a professional wardrobe.

“The past decade, it became socially acceptable for men to purchase and own grooming products, and men embraced it,” agrees Tom Ford, a fashion-design icon who recently launched his own line of fragrances. “Today, it’s not only acceptable for men to want to look and smell good; it’s expected.”

According to data from NPD Group, a market-research firm, sales of men’s premium fragrances (premium meaning any product that originates in a department or fine specialty store) now total nearly $6 billion worldwide. And though the market is growing by a modest 2 percent a year, the increase is significant when compared with revenues from women’s scents, which are actually shrinking.

“I grew up outside of the U.S., where shaving and grooming products were widely used by the men around me,” says one man in his late twenties who works as a principal at a private equity firm in New York City. “It’s only in the last few years that I’ve started to see my American friends and colleagues embrace those things in the same way.”

Karen Grant, an analyst at NPD, says the shift started around 2003—right about the time the term metrosexual hit the scene. NPD estimates that the number of new men’s fragrances launched each year in the United States has more than tripled since the ’90s, to about 60. Many of the pungent products of yesteryear are still on the shelves, but now a wider spectrum of scents—some more rugged, some more refined—are in the mix. To the elements that have traditionally been considered manly—musk, leather, moss, and exotic spices—cologne makers have added citrus, grasses, and even gourmet notes like basil and fig. The new scents are not less masculine, but subtler and lighter. Advances in technology and chemistry have significantly cut down on the number of formulations that are strong enough to make eyes water.

But there’s definitely a downside to a market awash in offerings: Men seeking an appropriate weekday fragrance may find themselves at sea. Here, an executive’s guide to staying out of the stink.