LONDON — The designer Paul Smith was contemplating whether Britain would leave the European Union as he stood in the basement of his Albemarle Street store on Thursday night, the eve of the spring 2017 season of the London Collections Men shows.

“I suppose whatever will be will be,” the designer said of the June 23 national referendum. “But if it does happen, then you and I can still sit down and have a drink together. Our lives will go on.”

The designer was hosting the opening event of the show schedule, a party celebrating 40 years of punk and showcasing work by the British photographer Derek Ridgers, whose black-and-white photographs documenting the era lined the shop walls.

“Long term, the whole world won’t end, although in the short term of course the effects of an exit would hit a lot of people,” Mr. Smith continued. “But ultimately it is still too soon to say what will happen or what the outcome will be.”

The designer’s sentiments on Brexit, as the referendum is called here, might as well have been Burbexit: the decision by Burberry, Britain’s largest luxury brand by sales, to leave the men’s show schedule. It said in February that it would combine its men’s and women’s wear shows, and display the result in September during the traditional women’s wear week.

So the brief era of Burberry’s blockbuster men’s show, held on Monday as the climactic anchor of the four-day event and a major draw for the world’s biggest buyers and editors, is now over. A low-key cocktail party took its place this season, hosted by Christopher Bailey, its chief executive and chief creative officer, on Friday night in the Burberry flagship store on Regent Street.

This shift in direction, along with the decisions by a number of other brands to present their men’s collections off the official schedule or in a mixed-gender format, prompted fresh musings about the future of London Collections Men from the front rows of its shows this weekend. Now in its ninth season, the four-day event organized by the British Fashion Council will feature 57 designers, down from 65 in January and from 77 last June.

“I don’t think a dedicated men’s wear event here will disappear because of the Burberry decision,” Susie Lau, the British blogger known as Susie Bubble, said as she sheltered from the rain outside the J.W. Anderson show on Sunday. “Yes, there is a lot of uncertainty at the moment but the strength of London has always been in its young avant-garde design talents and I think people recognize that. All the same faces, both local and international, are still here.”

Lulu Kennedy, the founder of the talent incubator Fashion East, which held presentations of young designers’ work on Saturday afternoon, added that she believed those truly interested in progressive fashion would continue to come to London, and to the Pitti Uomo trade fair in Florence, Italy, which takes place the week after the London men’s shows.

“Personally, I only go to a handful of shows at L.C.M. which interest me,” she said. “As L.C.M. has grown over the years there does seem to be a lot of ‘filler,’ doesn’t there?

“Some streamlining and compromising is going to have to happen, which is a good thing, and I’m open to these conversations and ready to adapt accordingly so that our young designers get seen and bought,” Ms. Kennedy continued.

Grace Wales Bonner, who presented her first stand-alone show, titled “Ezekiel,” on Sunday afternoon, also stressed the city’s position as a creative hub for men’s wear. “I grew up in London, so I am proud to be able to present here,” she said. “London feels like the natural place to explore the space between tradition and modernity.’

Nevertheless, changes are quietly afoot. Dylan Jones, chairman of London Collections Men and editor of British GQ, told reporters on Friday that next season the event’s name would become London Fashion Week Men’s.

“As the fashion industry changes, we need to open our doors and become more consumer-facing,” Mr. Jones explained, noting the increase in the number of designers selling their styles right off the runway as well as those combining their men’s and women’s shows. (On Saturday, Jermyn Street, the home of such prestigious men’s wear brands as Hilditch & Key and Turnbull & Asser, became a catwalk open to the public where more than 30 local brands showed their current wares.)

Back in the basement, Mr. Smith applauded the changes taking place in the industry — and the alternate approaches some brands have been adopting.

“Everyone is searching for something at the moment, in this world where we are totally oversupplied, overstocked and where it feels like everything has been done before,” he said. “A lot of companies are reassessing their size and costs as they realize that in order to survive in this current climate, character and originality, above all else, need to shine through.”