Two suggestions for a more unique look:
1) Often it's not about the individual pieces of clothing, but how to put them together. E.g., Angie turned me on to the look of layering a sleeveless v-neck top over a long-sleeve shirt. At least one of the pieces will be multi-colored or patterned. At first this sounded really weird to me, but then I tried it and LOVED it. So now I'm layering pieces that I got from run-of-the-mill stores in new ways, and the look is totally unique and striking.
2) Browse classy, high-end consignment stores (e.g. Fury in Seattle). I always find something unexpected and fun, often from a store/brand I hadn't heard of before, sometimes even a designer piece, at a great price. This doesn't work for "basics" (at least not for me), but for those fun additions that you can combine with existing basics.
Have fun!
