Young female Chinese tourists are buying Thai schoolgirl uniforms after a Chinese celebrity sparked the trend on social media.

Chinese actress and former idol Ju Jingyi posted selfies of herself in the outfit - consisting of a white blouse, blue tie and navy blue skirt - when she came to the Centralworld mall in Bangkok, Thailand, in February.

Young Chinese ladies who found the outfits cute picked up on the style and began posting similar photos while visiting the city and the southern island of Phuket, which is popular with holidaymakers.

Shops like the Sriphan Student Uniform store, seen in the video, in Bangkok's backpacking district of Banglamphu are cashing in on the craze.

The shop owner said the trend may have started from a Thai romantic comedy film, 'First Love' or 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love', which was released in China before the Covid-19 flu pandemic.

The popular movie, which stars Mario Maurer and Pimchanok Luevisadpaibul, tells the love story of a 14-year-old high schooler who wins the heart of her upperclassman crush. It also features the now-popular Thai schoolgirl ensemble.

However, famous Thai lawyer Ratchapon Sirisakorn has warned tourists to stop wearing the uniform as they could be slapped with a 1,000-baht (29 USD) fine according to the Student Uniform Act.

He also urged them not to embroider the clothes with Thai school names or abbreviations to avoid legal charges.