Painting a suitcase

[morosus-nympha.livejournal.com]

So this afternoon I went to the thrift store and picked up this huge, hardcased, suitcase because I'm going to New Orleans next week for band (we're going to play at the Sugar Bowl). Thing is, it's this dirty, off-white color. What type of paint would I use to paint it? I'm not thinking about taking on the progject of painting the whole thing, just some designs (hopefully if I get enough of the dirt off). Would fabric paint work? My intuition tells me that ceramic paint would scratch off too easily.