Justin Bieber gets mushy in public over lost love Selena Gomez

Is Justin Bieber longing for simpler times? The off-the-rails pop star on Monday posted to Instagram a photo montage of ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez, taken upon her arrival at the Vanity Fair bash Sunday after the Oscars.

“Most elegant princess in the world,” he captioned it.

Of course what pops to mind is a previous Vanity Fair arrival shot — one taken in 2011 — that showed Bieber and Gomez, then 17 and 18, respectively, together in public as a couple for pretty much the first time. Inside the party that night, it was reported, they engaged in some touchy PDA and and possibly even kissed. (Clutch those pearls!)

They would date off and on for a while before finally breaking up for good early last year.

Ah, the good old days, before Bieber’s DUI arrest, his brothel visit, his egg-throwing incident, his marijuana-smoke-filled airplane ride, his assault charge, his wobbly jailhouse video. Seventeen’s looking pretty good now, from our Justin-is-now-20 perch. Before he could possibly break Instagram with one attention-getting photo.

Meanwhile, Gomez, now 21, has been doing things like winning the Young Visionary Award at the recent Unite 4 Good event.

“By far the coolest award I’ve received -Young humanitarian award! Beyond proud to represent UNICEF since I was 17,” she posted on Instagram days ago.

Perhaps it wasn’t a match made in heaven after all? Now someone needs to tell that to Justin.

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